More on LinuxToday

CNET News: Microsoft Casts .Net into Upcoming Office

"[Gartner analyst David] Smith said that Microsoft's increase in
volume licensing fees--more than 100 percent for some
companies--directly accounts for much of the interest in StarOffice
among Microsoft's Office customer base. The increases will come
through a new licensing program called Software Assurance that will
commit customers to buying operating system and application
upgrades for an annual fee.

"'Some of these (StarOffice) pilots are in place to get
Microsoft to back down on the licensing changes,' Smith said. 'We
think the interest is serious enough that if Microsoft doesn't
change its pricing and licensing strategy, it will lose 10 percent
of the Office market to StarOffice and alternatives in a couple
years...by 2004.'

"Such a shift, while seemingly dramatic, wouldn't do much to
dent Microsoft's dominance in the office productivity market. Smith
estimated that Office could drop from 95 percent to 85 percent
share--'and that's certainly not going to break the company.
Nonetheless, they're very concerned about StarOffice in
Redmond...'"